This economic report on Tonga is the result of a joint project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Australian Agency for International Development. It is part of ADB's Pacific Islands Economic Report series, which aims to assist governments in formulating policy by analyzing a country's economic and socioeconomic situation, key issues, and development prospects. The report provides a longitudinal study of the Tonga economy covering the last 2 decades.

This book explores the development of mental health systems in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) of Samoa and Tonga through an examination of several policy transfer events from the colonial to the contemporary. Beginning in the 1990s, mental health became an area of global policy concern as reflected in concerted international organisation and bilateral aid and development agendas, most notably those of the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the governments of Australia and New Zealand. This book highlights how Tonga and Samoa both reformed their respective mental health systems during these years, after relatively long periods of stagnation. Using recent scholarship concerning public policy transfer, this book explains these policy outcomes and expands it to include consideration of the historical institutional dimensions evidenced by contemporary mental health systems. This book considers three distinct levels of policy implicated in mental health system transfer processes from developed to developing nations: colonial authority and influence; decolonisation processes; and the global development agenda surrounding health systems. In the process, the author argues that there are in fact three levels of policy change that must be accounted for in examining contemporary policy change. These policy levels include formal policy transfers, which tend to be prescriptive, involving professional problem construction and the designation of appropriate state apparatus for curative or custodial care provision; quasi-formal transfers, which tend to be aspirational and involve policy instruments developed through collaborative, participatory processes; and informal transfers that tend to be normative and include practices by professional actors in delivering service merged with traditional cultural beliefs as to disease aetiology as well as reflecting a deep understanding of the cultural context within which the services will be delivered. This book argues that a renewed focus on the importance of public policy and government institutional capacity is necessary to ensure human rights and justice are secured.

The World Report on Disability suggests more than a billion people totally experience disability. They generally have poorer health, lower education and fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This report provides the best available evidence about what works to overcome barriers to better care and services.

Launched at the annual Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting (CHMM), the publication provides a guide to current issues in global health for ministers, senior officials and other stakeholders. Reflecting the theme of CHMM 2015, Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015 looks at universal health coverage, with a particular focus on health and development challenges in an ageing world.Content includes: - Expert opinion from ministries of health, World Health Organization and transnational partnerships- Academic commentary from The Lancet, schools of medicine, public health and governments- Health systems and resourcing: responding to multi-morbidity, continuity of care- Dementia - social care, risk factors- The Ebola crisis, AIDS and other communicable diseases; antimicrobial resistance- Rights-based approaches to health care coverage, disabilities, palliative care- Youth and child health, a life-course approach to healthy ageingThe publication also includes extensive health profiles of the 53 Commonwealth member countries, incorporating the latest data on health systems and population health outcomes

One in every seven children is disabled. Children with disabilities are among the most likely to be marginalized, poor and vulnerable. UNICEF is committed to improving the lives of children, particularly those who face the greatest disadvantages. The report will investigate the web of barriers disabled children face: discrimination, harmful norms and the lack of accurate information. The report will analyse and provide good-practice guidance on: inclusive health and education; prevention; nutrition; protection from violence, exploitation and abuse; emergency response; institutionalization; and the role of appropriate technology and infrastructure